Accessibility

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The TRCA Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities Multi-year Plan

TRCA is committed to creating and providing inclusive programs, services and spaces to all members of our communities. To achieve this requires the identification and removal of barriers to participation, including social, cultural, economic and physical. A key component of this program of removing barriers to participation is the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

Enacted in 2005, the AODA will guide Ontario to become barrier-free by January 1, 2025 and was developed to assist organizations in the public, private and not-forprofit sectors in identifying barriers to accessibility. It includes standards in:

  • Customer Service;
  • Information and Communications;
  • Employment;
  • Transportation;
  • Design of Public Spaces.

All standards, with the exception of Transportation, apply to TRCA.

Download The TRCA Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities Multi-year Plan (PDF)

Website Accessibility

Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable and functional by persons of all abilities. When websites, applications and tools are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality including, but not limited to, those who may have:

  • Eyes, ears, or hands that are busy or interfered with.
  • Difficulty reading or comprehending text.
  • Colour-blindness or other visual impairments.
  • An inability to see, hear, or move easily.
  • Difficulty with navigating the Internet due to age-related illness or technology ability.
  • No access to a keyboard or mouse, or who do not have the ability to use one.
  • An early version of a browser, a non-standard browser, a voice browser or other assistive technology, or a non-standard operating system.
  • A slow Internet connection, a small screen such as on a mobile device, or a text-only screen
  • An inability to speak or understand the language in which the document is written.

Toronto and Region Conservation is guided by the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and Ontario’s Integrated Accessibility Standards. In 2016 we redeveloped our website to become compliant to the W3C WCAG 2.0 AA+ guidelines and are working to ensure all content accross all of our websites meet or exceeds this standard. Through continued consultation and an increased awareness by all staff who are involved with the website development, we will work to ensure the accessibility of images, multimedia, forms, data tables and other elements to ensure content is accessible to everyone.

For information or questions about website accessibility at TRCA, please contact webmaster@trca.on.ca.

Accessibility Standards for Customer Service Policy

Rationale

The purpose of this Customer Service Standards Policy is to fulfill the requirements set out in Regulation 429/07, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, to establish a policy for Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) for governing the provision of its goods or services to persons with disabilities.

Policy

TRCA shall use reasonable efforts to ensure that its policies, practices and procedures are consistent with the following principles;

  • The goods or services will be provided in a manner that respects the dignity and independence of persons with disabilities.
  • The provision of goods or services to persons with disabilities, and others will be integrated unless an alternate measure is necessary, whether temporarily or on a permanent basis, to enable a person with a disability to obtain, use or benefit from the goods or services.
  • Persons with disabilities will be given an opportunity equal to that given to others to obtain, use and benefit from the goods or services.
  • Persons with disabilities may use assistive devices and/or support persons in the access of goods and services.
  • TRCA employees when communicating with a person with a disability shall do so in a manner that takes into account the person’s disability.

Application

This policy shall apply to every person who deals with members of the public or other third parties on behalf of TRCA, whether the person does so as an employee, agent, volunteer or otherwise.

Definitions

Disabilities – (a) any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, a brain injury, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical co-ordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a guide dog or other animal or on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device,
(b) a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability,
(c) a learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language,
(d) a mental disorder, or
(e) an injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997;

Service Animals – Any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.

Support Person – Any person whether a paid professional, volunteer, family member or friend that accompanies a person with a disability in order to help with communications, personal care of medical needs or with access to goods or services.

Documentation

TRCA shall, upon request, supply a copy of the policy, practices and procedures required under the Ontario Regulation 429/07 ? Accessibility Standards for Customer Service to any person.